Jefferies analyst Youssef Squali remarked that the results mirrored the “muted” market expectations and “should be enough to keep investors on board while waiting for a resolution to the bigger`sale/partial sale/new CEO’ issue.”

“We continue to believe that a sale is likely, that an outright sale to (Microsoft, with Alibaba) makes the most sense, but that many permutations are likely to be considered in the process,” Squali said in a note.